Boarding Houses (NSW)

In New South Wales, the laws that apply to boarding houses are set out in the Boarding Houses Act 2012 and the Boarding Houses Regulations 2013. This page deals with the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants of boarding houses in New South Wales.

What is a boarding house?

Under the Boarding Houses Act 2012, a boarding house is defined as premises where boarders or lodgers are provided with a principal place of residence that may have shared facilities or services provided to boarders.

Under the Act, there are two types of boarding houses: general boarding houses and assisted boarding houses.

In a general boarding house, beds are provided for five or more residents not including any proprietors or managers, and there may be facilities or services available for use by the residents. Assisted boarding houses provide accommodation and other services to people with disabilities and others who need a high level of care.

What is not a boarding house?

Motels, backpacker hostels, serviced apartments and bed and breakfast accommodation providers are not boarding houses. Student accommodation, crisis accommodation and private health facilities, retirement villages and holiday parks are also not covered by the Act.

Share house or boarding house?

There are a number of differences between a share house and a boarding house.

In a share house, the tenants have an agreement with the landlord that they will share responsibility for the property. The tenants decide between themselves how they will share the space and how they will divide the rent and other expenses.

In a boarding house, each tenant rents their room directly from the landlord. There are shared facilities which the tenants use and that are maintained by the landlord.

Rights of tenants

A tenant in a boarding house has the following rights:

• To be provided with accommodation in accordance with the occupancy principles.
• To be notified when an inspection is to be carried out before the day of the inspection.

Occupancy principles

The following are the occupancy principles set out in Schedule 1 of the Act.

1. That a resident is entitled to live in premises that are clean, secure and in a reasonable state or repair.
2. That a resident is entitled to know the rules of the boarding house before they move in.
3. That a resident must not be required to pay a penalty for breaching the agreement or the rules.
4. That a resident is entitled to have quiet enjoyment of the premises.
5. That a proprietor is entitled to carry out inspections at reasonable times.
6. That a resident is entitled to four weeks’ notice before the proprietor increases the occupancy fee.
7. That a proprietor is entitled to charge a resident for the use of utilities provided they have been notified that they will be charged for utilities.
8. The proprietor may require the payment of a security fee of no more than two weeks’ rent upon the resident entering the agreement.
9. The resident is entitled to know how and why the occupancy may be terminated.
10. A resident must not be evicted without notice.
11. A proprietor and a resident should try to resolve disputes using a reasonable dispute resolution process.
12. A resident must be given receipts for any money paid to the proprietor.

Occupancy agreements

A tenant is a boarding house may have a rental agreement or occupancy agreement. This may be written or verbal, and should contains terms such as the rental amount, when rent is to be paid, and the notice period require to end the agreement.

Dispute resolution

If a dispute arises between a tenant and a landlord, either party may apply to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) for dispute resolution.

Under section 32 of the Act, NCAT may make any of the following orders:

• An order that restrains any action in contravention of the occupancy principles.
• An order that requires the performance of an action in performance of the occupancy principles.
• An order for payment of a sum of money.
• An order for compensation.
• An order that a party perform work to rectify a contravention of the occupancy principles.
• An order for payment of an occupancy fee.
• An order directing a person to comply with the Act.
• An order directing a landlord to give a tenant or former tenant access to the premises to recover goods.

If you require legal advice or representation in any legal matter, please contact Go To Court Lawyers.